Summary:
New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) After his meeting with Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said there can be no opposition front without the Congress, in a clear message to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her "no UPA" taunt, even as another ally NCP asserted it will make every effort to form a broad-based alliance that will also include the Congress.
As the NCP distanced itself from the Trinamool Congress(TMC) supremo"s jibes at the main opposition party, TMC sources said its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee conveyed to all its MPs at its Parliamentary Party meeting that the party will not play second fiddle to anyone, including the Congress.
During the meeting, the TMC also discussed that while it will be one with the opposition, including the Congress on all issues in Parliament, but outside their strategies to fight the BJP would be separate.
"While we are in separate compartments, our destination will be the same.
To remove the BJP," TMC MP Derek O"Brien said, days after Mamata Banerjee"s statement in Mumbai questioning the very existence of the anti-BJP combine United Progressive Alliance(UPA) and the Congress"s leadership of the opposition group Raut declined to share details about his meeting with Rahul Gandhi, but said they discussed about the status of the UPA.
The Shiv Sena, a former BJP ally, is not part of the UPA which was in power at the Centre between 2004 and 2014.